Karl Malone scored 23 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Utah
Jazz dominated the backboards in their sixth straight victory, a
115-98 win over the Toronto Raptors, who suffered their 14th
consecutive loss.

The Jazz held a 58-28 rebounding advantage over the decimated
Raptors, who are in the midst of the worst losing streak in
franchise history. Toronto has been ravaged by injuries to
their starting frontcourt. Forwards Walt Williams and Marcus
Camby have been sidelined for some time and center Popeye Jones
went down for the season Sunday with a torn anterior cruciate
ligament.

Bryon Russell added a season-high 19 points off the bench,
Shandon Anderson had 18 and Adam Keefe pulled down a season-best
11 boards for the Jazz, who held a 40-12 advantage on the boards
at halftime and led, 59-48.

"We were able to get a lot of boards both on offense and defense
and we were able to see the open man and that translated into a
lot of assists as well."

"If they didn't get 18 offensive rebounds at halftime, then we
were either up by two or down by two (at the half) and we're
right in the game," said Toronto coach Darrell Walker. "It's
tough when you can't rebound."

Jeff Hornacek scored nine of his 15 points in the first quarter
as Utah built a lead it never relinquished on its way to hitting
52 percent (45-of-86) of its shots.

The Raptors grabbed the early lead as Damon Stoudamire snapped a
10-10 tie with a layup midway through the quarter, but a dunk by
Keefe, a free throw from Malone and two fouls shots from
Hornacek gave the Jazz a 15-12 advantage.

Stoudamire scored 25 points, Doug Christie added 17 and John
Wallace 16 for Toronto, which shot 46 percent (38-of-83) from
the field and fell to 0-9 on the road.

"They got a couple of turnovers and capitalized on it," said
Stoudamire. "The arena, (which) is already loud, got louder and
the fans rallied behind their team"

The Raptors challenged in the second quarter, slicing the margin
to 42-40 on Christie's bucket with 4:52 to go. But Utah's
Howard Eisley, who scored six points and handed out eight
assists, drained a jumper to touch off a 13-4 burst. Russell
finished the run with four points, giving the Jazz a 55-44 edge
with 59 seconds left in the half.

"The team made all the hustle plays on defense," said Russell.
"Our offense plays off our defense and that made all the
difference tonight."

Reserve Shawn Respert was 6-of-8 from the field and finished
with 16 points for the Raptors, who committed just 12 turnovers
but were outscored 60-44 in the paint.

Rookie Jacque Vaughn had eight points and three assists off the
Utah bench, which outscored the Raptors' subs, 56-18.